


Wisdom of the Ace

by yoshiimiitsu



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Comfort, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:01:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21939376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yoshiimiitsu/pseuds/yoshiimiitsu
Summary: Bells tinkle in the background, indicating the arrival of new customers. Placing the coffee beans on the counter, Asahi smoothes his apron and turns around to greet them.“Hey, hey! Karasuno!”To Asahi’s surprise the customer is none other than Fukurodani’s Bokuto, standing in front of him with a bright smile. He's dressed for the weather in a bright puffy jacket and what seems to be team gloves and a scarf, snow covering the peaks of his hair.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Asahi has an unexpected customer at work, and they talk about some of their harder volleyball experiences.
Relationships: Asahi Azumane & Bokuto Koutarou
Comments: 6
Kudos: 47





	Wisdom of the Ace

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story for my wonderful friend Ash (dreamingpartone on pillowfort/tumblr) 💕 about mine and her favourite characters being friends in a setting we've had much discussion about (because who doesn't love Asahi as a barista, tbh).
> 
> Merry Christmas!
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I do not own these lovely characters. That right goes to Haruichi Furudate.

Asahi hums softly to himself as he wipes the counter, cleaning it of odd coffee beans and milk stains that had accumulated during the after-school rush. December is always the busiest time of year for Karasu café but Asahi doesn’t mind; he likes being busy and even with increased shift-times finds he can still balance work with school. Besides, it's fun to watch people meet to exchange gifts or take breaks from their Christmas shopping, and the festive vibes at this time of year always leave him feeling warm and cheerful, no matter how hectic his shifts become. 

After disposing of the surface cloth and washing his hands, he reaches for a packet of coffee beans in the top cupboard, quickly cutting one corner away before pouring the beans into the top of the coffee machine. This is another thing Asahi loves about his job – the smell of fresh coffee. 

Bells tinkle in the background, indicating the arrival of new customers. Placing the coffee beans on the counter, Asahi smoothes his apron and turns around to greet them. 

“Hey, hey! Karasuno!” 

To Asahi’s surprise the customer is none other than Fukurodani’s Bokuto, standing in front of him with a bright smile. He's dressed for the weather in a bright puffy jacket and what seemed to be team gloves and a scarf, snow covering the peaks of his hair. 

“Bokuto-san! What a surprise to see you here. Is there some training event I haven’t heard about?” 

“No training! I’m here to see Hinata,” Bokuto replies, ruffling his hair in a vain attempt to shake the snow out of it. “He’s been begging me to come and help him with some new move so I came for the weekend – although Akaashi wanted to do some training so he’s kind of mad, but it’s ages until our next match anyway and it’s not like this is going to have an effect on that much so never mind!” 

“Anyway, Hinata has some kind of catch-up class so I’m here to wait for him – he told me that you make the best coffee in the whole prefecture!” 

Asahi rubs the back of his head sheepishly. “Aha, that’s nice of him but I think Michimiya has that honour. She’s about to take over my shift actually so—” 

“No way! Hinata insisted you’re the best so I have to have one of yours!” Bokuto insists. “He told me to get a toffee nut latte with extra cream and sprinkles. An extra big one!” 

Before Asahi can reply, Bokuto roots through his rucksack for his wallet. He hands far over more than is necessary (“It’s Christmas!”) before bouncing off to find a table, leaving Asahi feeling as if he’d just been blown over by a tornado. Bokuto is certainly the friendliest person he’d met at the Tokyo training camps but he's an intense personality and both his experience and ability as an ace is slightly intimidating – on and off the court.

“Alright, I’m here to take over.” Michimiya smoothes her apron as she steps through from the staff room, nodding over at Bokuto taking his coat off and shaking yet more snow from his hair. “Who’s that guy? A friend of yours?”

“Something like that,” Asahi replies, pouring coffee into a large mug before frothing milk. “Although he’s Fukurodani’s captain, so I guess he’s kind of a rival. He’s here to see Hinata.” 

Michimiya raises an eyebrow, taking a proper look at Bokuto as he settles in his chair. “Wow. Daichi was right – our little shrimp really does make friends with everyone. You’re going to sit with him on your break right?” 

Asahi jolts, almost spraying whipped cream all over the side. “W-what? No, I’m sure he doesn’t want to be bothered by me right now, really, and to be honest he’s kind of scary—”

“Are you kidding? The captain of one of the top teams in the country is sitting _right over there_. You are absolutely going to sit with him.” Michimiya furiously sprinkles the coffee with small toffee nut pieces before taking it in one hand and gripping Asahi’s wrist firmly with the other. “Besides, Nationals are right around the corner – you can ask for tips and experience.” 

Knowing better than to argue any further Asahi allows himself to be led across the café, hastily grabbing a sandwich on the way. That's another benefit of working here – the owners are an older couple who treat their staff like family and appreciate that their servers, who are all high-school and college students, balance their shifts with a busy study schedule. As such they always allow them to have something from the café for their lunch or dinner breaks, and often make them tea when they come to study in their free time. It's a cosy environment that all of them are grateful for.

As they reach Bokuto’s table, Michimiya releases Asahi’s wrist only to place her hand behind his back and push him firmly forward. “Hi! I’m Michimiya Yui, Asahi’s classmate – I hope you don’t mind me introducing myself! I’ve heard a lot about you from our captain, he really looks up to you!” 

“Really?! Me?!” Bokuto’s face lights up. “Awesome!” 

“Really! Now listen,” Michimiya continues, “I would love to sit and talk about volleyball with you all day but unfortunately I’m on a long shift, so our ace is going to keep you company instead. He has lots of court stories he can tell so you won’t get bored, and please enjoy this drink he made just for you!”

As she places the coffee on the table, Bokuto’s eyes sparkle. He wraps his hands around the mug and immediately takes a sip, leaving cream on the tip of his nose and all round his mouth. His face lights up once again at the taste – it's like watching a child unwrap their favourite gift on Christmas morning. 

“Wow! This is awesome! What did you put in it?! So good – Hinata was right, your coffee really is the best! You have to tell me how to make it, is it hard? Kuroo’s gonna be so jealous, ha! Just wait until I tell him, this is his favourite thing—” 

Michimiya pats Asahi on the shoulder before leaving to serve another customer and Bokuto goes on, somehow moving from the subject of Kuroo’s favourite coffee to recounting some heated debate he and Kenma had had with the Nekoma captain earlier in the week. Asahi eats as he listens, offering various reactions as Bokuto rambles on from one story to another. He finds Bokuto easy to listen to and is amused by his various theatrics, even when some of the other customers glance over at the livelier parts. 

“So! How do you feel about Nationals? It’s been a really long time since Karasuno has been there huh?”

The sudden turn of conversation takes Asahi by surprise – though he supposed he ought to have expected it to turn to volleyball eventually. 

“Well it’s pretty big for us,” he replies honestly. “Everybody’s working hard but it’s going to be a big step.” 

Bokuto nods. “There are some really great teams this year, it’s going to be tough. I can’t wait though! Is there anyone you’re really excited to face? For me it’s Itachiyama – that Sakusa is such a jerk!”

That launches Bokuto into another long story, this time about Tokyo’s preliminary matches. Asahi can’t help but laugh – no wonder Hinata and Bokuto get on so well. They're both a mile a minute kind of people, going off on long winding tangents from the slightest things.

“I heard you guys had some crazy prelims too! Shiratorizawa and Seijoh of course, but Hinata mentioned another one from the tournament before, man I can’t remember… something about an Iron Wall?” 

“Ah, Datekou.” 

“That’s them! He told me you faced them before you came to Tokyo and they have crazy blocks. Kuroo was really interested in their techniques – especially when Hinata said they can just block out anything.” 

“Aha well, that match went pretty okay all things considered.” Asahi goes quiet for a moment before continuing, glancing over the other side of the café. “But we had another one a few months before the first years came along, and they completely wiped us out.”

“Really?” Bokuto looks at Asahi with surprise. 

“Yeah, they’re tough. They have a way of making you feel completely isolated on the court, even though you know everyone’s behind you.” 

Bokuto sits quietly, waiting for Asahi to go on. 

“They just, they block everything. They shut it all out. And in this particular match it was like, no matter what I did – how high I jumped or how much power I put into my spikes – every single move was blocked.” 

There's something about Bokuto’s presence that makes it very easy to talk – perhaps helped by how much talking he’d done himself. And Asahi finds that now the words have started coming he's powerless to stop them, even though this is a subject he doesn’t like to revisit with his own teammates. 

“The thing is that even though we’ve beaten them since, sometimes that match is all I can think about. All I remember is how I couldn’t see past the high blocks anymore, couldn’t think about spiking anymore – how hopeless I felt and how useless as a member of the team, and how badly I wanted to quit. I remember thinking what the point was of being an ace if I was so scared and self-destructed so easily.” 

“And then, I did quit.” Asahi blinks as he wills sudden tears away, still looking at the café wall instead of at Bokuto. “And that makes me feel, well… I don’t always feel like the ace, like I deserve to be the ace. It makes me feel fake, somehow. And I’m just desperate to do anything that stops me letting the team down, especially now we’re heading to the biggest stage there is.” 

For a moment, Bokuto doesn’t say anything. Asahi feels himself flush hot with embarrassment for letting his feelings spill out as the silence stretches into what feels like an eternity, though in reality it's only a minute or two. 

“I don’t think you have to worry about letting your team down.” 

Asahi looks up. Bokuto is watching him with a serious expression. 

“They’re always behind you – I’ve seen it, in the matches or during practice afterwards. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” 

“But I left.” 

“Sure, but you came back and you work hard. That’s all that matters in the end.” Bokuto runs his finger along the top of his mug, wiping the last of the cream away.

“I know how frustrating it is to be in a match you just can’t win. It’s why I got so good at straights – we played a team who wouldn’t let up on blocking my cross-shots and it pissed me off, so I learnt something that could beat them.” 

“Although I can’t say I’ve ever quit volleyball – I love it too much, even when I’m stuck or can’t do something the way I want.” He pauses, glancing at the twinkling lights in the window before looking back at Asahi. “But I was part of a team who didn’t have my back.” 

“You – what?” 

Bokuto shrugs. “It was at middle school. They didn’t really like me or include me much in practice – always found different routes to run, practiced by themselves or in obvious groups, didn’t really talk to me much. I was too much for them.” 

“And I mean hey, I get super emotional and lose my temper or all my confidence at the worst times, even mid-match," he continues, "and that’s totally annoying – for me most of all – so I can understand why they didn’t really want me around. I’ve gotten better at controlling it but not always, and I know it can be difficult for people to work with.” 

Asahi feels stunned. Here he is, having felt so embarrassed to have shared his worst experiences to somebody talking about their own so conversationally, as if it's the most normal thing in the world. It's grounding, making Asahi feel as though they're on the same level. 

“But hey! Sometimes you just don’t get on with people, it happens. But your team is always behind you, so you have nothing to worry about. Hinata’s always going on about you and how he can’t wait to be an ace like you are.” 

Asahi feels his cheeks turn red. “Ah no way—”

“It’s true! He thinks you’re the best.” Bokuto leans back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest, as if this somehow accentuates his point. “He likes to hear from lots of players but you’re his favourite.”

Before Asahi can reply, the café door tinkles with the arrival of a new customer – who loudly and immediately bounds for their table. 

“BOKUTO-SAAAAAAN!!!!!” 

“There he is, my protégé!” Bokuto stands, bounding towards Hinata and picking him up into a big hug. From across the café, Michimiya catches Asahi’s eye and laughs.

“It’s so good to see you and I’m sorry I’m so late, the teacher kept me for _ages_ because I got like four less marks than I was supposed to and it was so annoying because I tried to tell her it was because I misread the question but she didn’t believe me and— oh, Asahi-san!” Hinata smiles brightly at the ace, before glancing from him to Bokuto. “Did I interrupt you guys? I’m so sorry!”

“It’s no problem,” Asahi replies with a smile, taking the empty coffee cup and standing. “We were just talking about Nationals – maybe you can tell Bokuto-san about Yacchan’s study plan that she came up with for you guys.” 

Hinata’s face shines. “Oh yeah I forgot to tell you – it’s awesome, she made us these little diaries and plans so we don’t fall behind with all the practice and everything. Tsukishima tried to act all cool with us like he didn’t need it but he uses it all the time, and Kageyama’s already behind so he relies on it!”

“Oh that’s so cool! Maybe I can ask her for one! Akaashi’s always bugging me to keep up with my homework.” 

“Yeah! She thinks you’re really cool so she’ll probably freak out if you ask her but she’d definitely make you one!” 

“Wait, really?!”

It's endearing to see how elated Bokuto is to know someone looks up to him, as it is to watch him and Hinata bounce off each other. Feeling somehow lighter than he was before, Asahi decides to leave the pair to it. 

“I’m going to help Michimiya-san with a few things before the end of my shift. If you guys need anything, just call for us.”

“And Bokuto-san,” he continues, reaching out a hand. “Thanks for sharing with me. It really helps to hear what you have to say.” 

Bokuto extends his own hand to grasp Asahi’s, trademark bright smile on his face. Hinata, seeming to understand that he’d missed some kind of moment, simply smiles at the pair before heading to the counter to order a drink.

“And for what it’s worth, I think a team would be crazy not to want you on it.” 

Bokuto blushes deep red. “Ah, you’re too nice.” He shakes Asahi’s hand vigorously before pulling him in for a big hug, squeezing tight before pulling back and looking at him with a serious expression. 

“But hey hey, just so you know – none of this means I’ll go easy on you on the court!”

Asahi grins. “Me neither. I’ll see you there.”


End file.
